Some years ago I quited smoking. I used to smoke forty cigarettes a day so it was a very good decision that bettered my quality of life and made me free of a horrible and bad smelling bad habit. The common and widespread problem between left smokers is the gain of weight after quitting smoking. I gained more than twenty kilos and I have been trying to loose them without much success. And I came to the idea that it is much more difficult to loose weight than to quit smoking for the following very simple reason:

You can live without smoking, but you can't live without eating.

So you can quit smoking completely and never again to touch a cigarette. That is true for the alcohol too: you can never again touch a glass of wine, so you can keep the substance far enough from you daily life so as to loose the bad habit. But you can not do the same with food, you always have to eat. You will always have to open the refrigerator to take food from it and almost always there will be more than you need to eat. So that is the reason I think it is much more difficult to loose weight than to quit smoking or another no vital bad habit.

Afaceinthematrix

Well I've never quit smoking (because I've never started), but I can see what you say.

However, I have some advice for you if you want to lose weight. Most people have trouble losing weight because they're used to eating burgers, fries, etc. They crave junk food because that's what they enjoy. You simply have to train yourself to enjoy other foods. Start eating all healthy foods, and after a while that becomes what you like. I'm never tempted to eat burgers or drink sodas because I've trained myself to enjoy fruits, vegetables, steamed chicken, water, etc. (healthy food/drinks). So instead of craving burgers, I crave strawberries and other foods.

The other side of it is exercise. You must pick up new hobbies/interests that are physical. Take up basketball or some other physical activity that you enjoy so that exercise isn't a chore.